● Qualitative research designs-are good at answering “How?” and “What?
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questions (in contrast to the “Whether” or “If” queries commonly addressed by
quantitative research).
● Ethnography is the direct description of a group, culture or community. Data
are collected during fieldwork through participant observation and interviews with
the key informants as well as through documents. Researchers observe the rules
and rituals in the culture and try to understand the meaning and interpretation
that informants give them.
● Grounded Theory (GT) is an approach that generates and modifies a theory.·
The finished product is also called a GT—it is a development of theory directly
based and grounded in the data collected by the researcher.
● Narrative Inquiry includes stories that reflect on people‘s experience
and the meaning that this experience has for them.
● Phenomenology focuses on the subjective experience of the individual
● Case Study provides an in-depth look at one test subject. The subject can be a
person or family, business or organization, or a town or city
● Sampling is a process or technique of choosing a subgroup from a population to
participate in the study. It is the process of selecting a number of individuals for a
study in such a way that the individuals selected represent the large group from
which they were selected (Ogula, 2005).
○ Probability Sampling- In probability sampling, everyone has an
equal chance of being selected. This scheme is one in which
every unit in the population has a chance (greater than zero) of
being selected in the sample.
■ Simple Random Sampling provides the base from which
the other more complex sampling methodologies are
derived. To conduct a simple random sample, the
researcher must first prepare an exhaustive list (sampling
frame) of all members of the population of interest. From
this list, the sample is drawn so that each person or item
has an equal chance of being drawn during each
selection round
■ Systematic Sampling procedure is often used in place of
simple random sampling. In this type of sampling, the
researcher selects every nth member after randomly
selecting the first through nth element as the starting point
■ Stratified Sampling procedure is the most effective
method of sampling when a researcher wants to get a
representative sample of a population. It involves
categorizing the members of the population into mutually
exclusive and collectively exhaustive groups
■ Cluster Sampling a cluster (a group of population
elements), constitutes the sampling unit, instead of a
single element of the population. The sampling in this
technique is mainly geographically driven. The main
reason for cluster sampling is cost efficiency (economy
and feasibility).
○ Non-Probability Sampling is used in some situations, where
the population may not be well defined. In other situations,
there may not be great interest in drawing inferences from the
sample to the population.
● Purposive/Judgmental Sampling the researcher chooses
the sample based on who he/she thinks would be
appropriate for the study. The main objective of purposive
sampling is to arrive at a sample that can adequately
answer the research objectives
● Convenience Sampling is sometimes known as
opportunity, accidental or haphazard sampling. It is a type
of non-probability sampling which involves the sample
being drawn from that part of the population which is
close to hand, that is, a population which is readily
available and convenient
● Voluntary response sampling similar to a convenience
sample, a voluntary response sample is mainly based on
ease of access. Instead of the researcher choosing
participants and directly contacting them, people
volunteer themselves (e.g. by responding to a public
online survey). Voluntary response samples are always at
least somewhat biased, as some people will inherently be
more likely to volunteer than others
● Snowball sampling If the population is hard to access,
snowball sampling can be used to recruit participants via
other participants.
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